This Much is True
by lulamara
Summary: Friendship or unrequited love? Angela contemplates her relationship with Tony. One shot.


**Title:** This Much is True**  
Category:** Who's the Boss?**  
Characters:** Angela, Tony, OC, others**  
Summary:** Friendship or unrequited love? Angela contemplates her relationship with Tony. Obviously, this is set rather early in the series. Season 2ish/3ish? Call it what you will. Just don't forget to click the little review button at the bottom of the page. I live for feedback, esp. the positive variety!  
**Disclaimer:** The characters in the story do not belong to me. I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

-----

He doesn't have to say anything for her to know that he cares. He shows her how he feels every day, in countless ways through his actions. And that's enough for her. That is all she needs.

Or at least that's what she tells herself.

There is a lot about love that she doesn't understand. One thing she is sure of, though, is that it comes in a lot of different colors. Upon examining the various shades of love she has felt over the years, she has discovered a virtual rainbow in her life.

She has also discovered that those colors sometimes change and fade. Only the pure white love for family and friends seems to hold a promise of forever. In fact, forever is almost a guarantee with family. She loves her mother, her son, and Sam unconditionally and knows in her heart that she always will.

But as for Tony, it just doesn't seem like pure white completely covers the thoughts and emotions he stirs within her. She **almost** wishes that it did. White is safe. It's secure. It's simple.

There are too many red moments, though – like when he gives her one of his heart-warming, butterfly-inducing smiles – when the longing for a **real** romance nearly drowns the simple purity of their friendship, turning it pink.

Pink. Like the roses he brings home sometimes because he knows they're her favorite and he's wonderfully thoughtful that way. Like her cheeks when his arm brushes against hers as he's refilling her cup of coffee over breakfast. His eyes meet hers and the intensity of his gaze causes a blush rivaling that of any young schoolgirl to consume her face.

As a friend, he empowers her. She feels like she could move those proverbial, steadfast mountains with him by her side. And were he something more? Well, then she could probably put the Catskills on the moon. It's that transition from friend to… something more… that terrifies her. It's putting her heart on the line, telling him how she feels, and hoping against hope that he can tell her he feels the same.

She's pretty confident he has that same pink feeling at least once in a while. He looks at her and his eyes are a camera lens in soft focus, dark and hazy. And she is so transparent that he can see straight through her own overly bright gaze and into her soul. A moment passes between them when they each know exactly how the other feels. No words are spoken because no words are necessary.

Then one of them blinks, and suddenly the look is gone. His eyes are clear again, and it's the emotions behind them that she cannot see. It all happens so fast, that she later wonders if she imagined it.

There is a way to answer all of her questions, of course. And it seems ridiculous to her sometimes to be so afraid to ask. They're best friends, after all. They have lived in the same house together for several years now. Their family has often hinted, and sometimes said outright, that they would be thrilled if she and Tony let friendship turn to romance. There doesn't appear to be any reason why "something more" **wouldn't** work, and every reason why it **should**.

But what if it didn't? What would happen then? So she listens to her good friends, the old adages "**why mess with a good thing**" and "**what you don't know can't hurt you**", and decides that "just friends" with Tony will have to be enough.

There's just one problem. It isn't.

-----

"More coffee, Angela?" 

Even at 6:30 in the morning, his voice is the most erotic thing she has ever heard. So low. So husky. It's absurd but it makes her feel like pounding the kitchen table and crying, "Yes! More! Please!"

She doesn't act on that impulse, of course. Tony would think she had lost her mind. And if Mona heard her scream like that, she'd bring her an ice cube tray. "A tad frustrated today, are we?" she would inquire.

Tony fills her cup again, causing steam to rise. Angela crosses her legs tightly.

Frustrated?

Mona has no idea.

-----

There is a vase filled with a dozen pink roses waiting for her on the sofa table when she arrives home from work. The card attached reads "Just because" in Tony's round, open penmanship. 

Whatever **that** means.

He either can't or won't elaborate when she later asks him to, forcing her to take an equally casual approach. Only after everyone else goes to bed, does she admire the beautiful flowers, kissing one tiny closed bud before heading upstairs herself.

The next day, she sees that the bud has opened up. It's too bad the same can't be said for Tony.

-----

Angela is in her bedroom, dabbing on a little Obsession, when Tony opens the front door to admit Mr. Alexander Jessup, her date for the evening. She hurries downstairs in the only red dress she owns and a matching pair of shoes. 

Jess, as he charmingly insists on being called, lavishes her with compliments when he sees her. She blushes under his praise, and her pulse thrums as she turns to get Tony's reaction.

"You kids have fun," is all he says, but there's no mistaking the way his eyes linger on her.

Oh, how she wishes Jess was Tony.

-----

Like he often does with Sam, Tony is waiting up for Angela when she gets back from her date. 

"How'd it go?" he asks as she collapses on the sofa beside him.

It's not a trick question, but it sure feels like one. She picks at a loose thread on the armrest as she dallies with her reply.

"How would you feel if I told you that I really like Jess?"

"Aww, Angela… You know how I'd feel."

She turns her head sharply toward him to find he's giving her **that** look.

"Yes, Tony. I know."

And she hates that.

_Fin._


End file.
